News Roundup › Community Input

I own a multimillion dollar business, with thousands of employees, headquartered in our building at 1900 Canal St. That’s in the 37-acre site that LSU has targeted for expropriation to build a $1.2 billion hospital in Lower Mid City. “Read more.”: http://blog.nola.com/guesteditorials/2009/06/point_of_view_feeling_discarde.html#more

Source: The Times-Picayune | Archived Copy

A bemused mother pressed her right palm against her young son’s eyes as she watched a pack of cyclists lackadaisically pedal past them on Royal Street just after noon Saturday.

The hand went over the youngster’s eyes because most of the riders, both men and women, were almost entirely naked. Read more.

Source: The Times-Picayune | Archived Copy

Source: Louisiana Recovery Authority | Archived Copy

Chalmette native Matt Faust’s heart-wrenching 6-minute short film has made it on to New Yew York Magazine’s list of Top 5 Favorite Short Films showing at Tribeca this year. Listen to Matt tell why he made the film when he presented it last October as part of the New Orleans Speaks Conference, co-sponsored by The Urban Conservancy.
— Editor

When he started it, Matt Faust envisioned his short film “Home” as little more than an exercise in self-prescribed, post-Katrina therapy.

With no formal background in filmmaking — and armed with just a collection of old photos, home videos and some computer expertise he picked up while earning degrees in Landscape Architecture at LSU — the Hannan High School graduate simply wanted to make a video that might help his family remember what was lost when their home on tiny Derbigny Street in Chalmette was destroyed by the storm.

“I felt like it was something I just had to do, for myself and my family, ” Faust said last week.

What he couldn’t have envisioned was that his wordless six-minute film would find its way to the Tribeca Film Festival in New York, one of the nation’s premiere film fests, where it will screen this week in competition in the documentary-short category. “Read more.”:

Source: The Times-Picayune | Archived Copy

“If a system is perceived as fair, transparent and competitive, then businesses are more likely to participate, ” she said. “Otherwise, they run the risk of wasting their time preparing proposals because the fix is in: They will have that perception.”

Source: The Times-Picayune | Archived Copy

“I heard the mayor say on television that he had the most transparent administration in the history of New Orleans,” Ledet said. “I would have to take issue with that based on what I’ve heard today.”

Source: The Times-Picayune | Archived Copy

“It’s a travesty,” Fielkow said. “This action takes us 10 steps back at a time that residents now more than ever are calling for more openness in government. With this (executive order), the mayor has moved us to a different era. He is trying to avoid the Open Meetings Law with a scorched earth process and is willing to kill all the fields.”

Source: New Orleans CityBusiness | Archived Copy

Sandra Stokes, executive vice chairwoman of the Foundation for Historical Louisiana, said she, along with an architect who reviewed the condition of Big Charity and a doctor who is advocating for the reopening of the storm-damaged hospital, were blocked from joining the tour.

Source: New Orleans CityBusiness | Archived Copy

The National Trust for Historic Preservation strongly urged the VA to work with the incoming Obama Administration to explore the alternative sites that would restore needed health care facilities faster and at less cost, while preserving much more of the historic Mid-City neighborhood. At the same time, the National Trust for Historic Preservation noted that the VA’s decision is based on the desire to co-locate with an LSU medical facility - whose projected $1.2 billion funding is far from assured.

Source: New Orleans City Business | Archived Copy

Preservation groups also have raised concerns that demolition could proceed before LSU pulls together funding for its new hospital, which is projected to cost $1.2 billion. The university is expected to make a down payment on the hospital with the money it collected from the federal government for the damage Katrina wreaked on Charity. LSU had banked on $500 million; FEMA has not budged above $23 million.

Source: The Times-Picayune | Archived Copy

Neighbors and preservationists invariably express support for improved health care. But they worry about adverse effects from what LSU calls ‘the largest post-storm urban renewal project in New Orleans.”

Source: Gambit Weekly | Archived Copy

Dr. Fred Cerise, LSU’s vice chancellor of health affairs and medical education, echoed Gray’s concerns that increased delays that call into question the state and city’s commitment to the LSU hospital will threaten the VA project as well.

Source: bnet | Archived Copy

To expand their coalition, Lang said, Republicans will need to find ways to talk about issues relevant to metropolitan areas. “You don’t have to have the same policies as the Democrats, but you have to talk about this and not just talk about values in the small towns,” he said.

Source: The Washington Post | Archived Copy

In urging support of the amendment, the Bureau of Governmental Research said that in New Orleans, “land-use decisions do not emerge from a fair, rational or consistent process, and the City Council holds unbridled discretion in important areas.”

Source: The Times-Picayune | Archived Copy

“Motivated by the desire to exploit the metered parking space as a site for art, activism, and cultural expression, REBAR offers PARK Day as a prototype for open source urban design accessible to all,” says a statement in the project’s “assembly manual.”

Source: MSN City Guides | Archived Copy

“The time has come to see the potential for this corridor not only be used as a path for people to walk or bike to work and to better their health, but also to knit communities along the greenway together,” said Bart Everson, the FOLC’s board chair.

Source: The Times-Picayune | Archived Copy

Now that’s changing. Flaherty, a former grass-roots organizer for Ronald Reagan, argues that conservatives have been slow to recognize that today it’s corporations, not government, that drive many big social changes. That’s been true recently on issues like gay rights, health-care costs and the environment.

Source: NewsWeek | Archived Copy

Business owners along Magazine Street have long complained that Radtke, who is not a city employee, has painted on their buildings without their permission. But when told of their concerns, Narcisse said in January that the NOPD has no intention of charging Radtke with defacing of public or private property and praised his efforts in reducing crime and improving the city’s quality of life.

Source: City Business | Archived Copy

“This is about the future of the Warehouse District and whether it is going to continue to be four- and five-story residences or whether it’s going to be a series of Miami South Beach towers. If I wanted to live in South Beach I would have moved there,” Rubenstein said

Source: City Business | Archived Copy

FOLC said the Lafitte Greenway will encourage economic revitalization; create transportation alternatives, such as walking, biking and connections to transit; improve public health; and promote cultural tourism by connecting to neighborhood attractions.

Source: City Business | Archived Copy

The twin hospitals would consume nearly 70 acres of a national historic district, obliterating the Deutsches Haus, a German cultural center; the former McDonogh No. 11 school, a landmark that dates to 1879; and scores of classic shotgun- and sidehall-style homes, including four that were renovated after Katrina with $45,000 in historic preservation grants from the state. The Dixie Brewery and the modernist City Hall annex also sit inside the hospital footprint, although city leaders have indicated those buildings could be spared.

Source: Times-Picayune | Archived Copy

The open-air center will include a 140,000-square-foot Lowe’s Home Center, another 200,000-square-foot anchor, two other 100,000-square-foot anchors and 650,000 square feet of other assorted retail and a movie theater… . The New Orleans-based developer is still finalizing the development’s total costs, but the TIF bonds will provide some percentage of that cost, he said. Last summer, Kailas estimated a total cost of $200 million.

Source: City Business | Archived Copy

In the late 1960s, I argued that DC should have governing neighborhood commissions. When we were granted “advisory neighborhood commissions” in the 1970s, I argued that our first goal should be to kick the A out of ANC, replacing their token status with real governmental powers. I still believe such bodies are a greatly needed national urban reform. Among the jobs of such bodies would be to preserve the community and culture which they serve.

Source: Progressive Review | Archived Copy

When Ochsner Health System last summer announced plans to buy three New Orleans area hospitals that were badly battered by Hurricane Katrina, health care advocates hailed the move as salvation for a region in dire need of medical services.

But many observers were unaware that the deal to buy the properties from Tenet Healthcare Corp. hinged on a promise to block the reopening of Lindy Boggs Medical Center, a hospital Tenet owned in Mid-City that has been shuttered since the storm.

Source: Times-Picayune | Archived Copy

After protesters clashed violently with the police inside and outside the New Orleans City Council chambers on Thursday, the Council voted unanimously to allow the federal government to demolish 4,500 apartments in the four biggest public housing projects here.

Source: New York Times | Archived Copy

Available free to the public at www.bigboxevaluator.org, the web-based interface allows users to learn about commercial and retail development in general, but also to input specific information from their communities and receive customized reports on economics, values, planning and municpal services, and ways to improve the development process.

Source: The Orton Family Foundation | Archived Copy

Herschel Abbott, NORA board chairman, said disposition of properties will be in line with market demand. “We don’t want to flood the market with properties and precipitate a decline in property values,” Abbott said.

Source: City Business | Archived Copy

“The new broadcast outlet offers a window into the rapidly changing African American political consciousness in post-Katrina New Orleans. The new format, “Talk Back: Talk Black” marks a significant development in African American political life post-Katrina. Bakewell’s comments on today’s broadcast made it clear that his goal is to make WBOK a voice for African Americans in New Orleans and the Diaspora.

Source: The New Orleans Agenda | Archived Copy

The ORM has $2.4 million of an estimated $2.5 million needed to complete phase one, which includes developing a greenway between North Broad and Jefferson Davis Parkway. ORM will use $2 million from the $117 million authorized by the Louisiana Recovery Authority for the city, $313,000 from the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development and a $95,000 grant from the American Institute of Architects to develop the park.

Source: City Business | Archived Copy

What was once a dysfunctional, centralized department riddled with everything from favoritism to corruption, is now a highly regarded professional law enforcement agency. In the past four years, Providence’s murder rate has been cut in half.

Source: Business Innovation Factory | Archived Copy

Moises has said the the first three floors of the hospital could be reopened in months. Following Katrina, Moises and a team of nearly 200 doctors, nurses and military personnel spent a month cleaning and decontaminating the first three floors of the hospital, intent on returning at least a portion of it to operational status.

Source: City Business | Archived Copy

The mere mention of gentrification has so inflamed the discussion … that stereotypes and political grandstanding have obscured the facts and tangible impacts on real people. Austin succeeded, at least in part, in detaching itself from much of the hyperbole by conducting a set of separate, relatively rigorous studies on the intersection of gentrification and preservation. The city’s efforts have suggested that the answer to gentrification is not found in broad-brush generalizations, but rather in analyzing each neighborhood’s specific economic and social concerns, understanding them as inextricably tied to a complex local history, and devising appropriate solutions and strategies responsive to the community’s needs and aspirations.

Source: The Next American City | Archived Copy

Source: City Business | Archived Copy

These pockets of productivity are notable in that people succeeded with little if any involvement from the central government. To my colleague Peter Gordon of the University of Southern California and me, this sends an important message: Rather than try to fix a doomed political process, neighborhoods should be allowed to secede from the city.

Source: Mercatus Center | Archived Copy

More than 200 Mid-City residents jammed Grace Episcopal Church on Monday and largely criticized a proposed retail development of more than 20 acres as out of scale and detrimental to their neighborhood.

Source: Times-Picayune | Archived Copy

Our new [neighborhood] commission worked remarkably well considering that all of us were playing it by ear. We made some simple rules that helped. For example, we would only deal with local issues. That way our national and citywide conflicts wouldn’t ruin our meetings.

Source: Progressive Review | Archived Copy

Even with the reduction, the tower would be more than three times the 85-foot height limit allowed in the block by the city’s zoning law.

Source: The Times-Picayune | Archived Copy

As a native of the city and a lifelong resident of the metropolitan area, I cannot recall ever seeing such a large march in New Orleans. During Vietnam, hundreds marched in protest and in 1996; hundreds marched on City Hall after the Louisiana Pizza Kitchen murders. But, yesterday, thousands marched, black and white, young and old, male and female. School children were joined by CBD workers, all united in one cause, to stop the killings.

Source: BayouBuzz.com | Archived Copy

The speakers took aim at the murderers and drug dealers responsible for the bloodshed but they saved the greater share of their rage for Mayor C. Ray Nagin, New Orleans Police Superintendent Warren Riley and District Attorney Eddie Jordan.

Source: City Business | Archived Copy

“What you won’t see in the plan (are) directives that prioritize certain neighborhoods or districts over another, because we believe that they’re all viable,” said Joe Butler, a spokesman for the planning process. “And we are not in any position to select how they are brought back and the timeline (on which) they are brought back.”

Source: Times-Picayune | Archived Copy

On Election Day, residents rebuffed their once-beloved Seattle SuperSonics, voting overwhelmingly for a ballot measure ending public subsidies for professional sports teams.

Source: NY Times | Archived Copy

Question: How did you go from neighborhood rallies to running a nationally renowned organization?

Answer: Well, the street protests were cute and motivating and all, but eventually I decided it was time to get serious. In 2001, I founded Sustainable South Bronx — not as a moral crusade, but as an economic-development group that was about planning our future, not just reacting to environmental blight. I wanted to play offense, not defense. I wanted to give our community permission to dream, to plan for healthy air, healthy jobs, healthy children, and safe streets.

Source: Grist Magazine | Archived Copy

Beyond the quest for money looms one giant, unsettled question: Will planners revisit the size of New Orleans’ developed footprint? … . In a city built for more than double the number of people who now live in it, the footprint issue won’t be doused by pronouncements that New Orleans plans a full recovery, many argue.

Source: Times-Picayune | Archived Copy

all parties at the planning table must first be prepared to do even more hard work - “to be vigilant at nurturing and strengthening, making sure some of the key elements of the plan are in place: transparency, openness in participation, and communication.” And, he added, “the Community Support Organization - which doesn’t appear to exist yet - will be critical in its policy role.”

Source: NOLA.com | Archived Copy

Much of the criticism relating to land use decision making centers on the role of City Council. At the root of the problem are two “Ds”: deference and discretion. Critics charge that City Council is vested with too much discretion and misuses it, routinely overruling recommendations made by the City Planning Commission and its staff.

Source: Bureau of Governmental Affairs | Archived Copy

The Alston / Bannerman Fellowship Program is committed to advancing progressive social change by helping to sustain long-time activists of color. The program honors those who have devoted their lives to helping their communities organize for racial, social, economic and environmental justice. The program provides resources for organizers to take sabbaticals for reflection and renewal.

Source: Alston/Bannerman Fellowship Program | Archived Copy

“It’s a rare thing to see people just kind of come together in a collective to really tackle a project like this,” he said. “Most planning efforts tend to be top-down.”

Source: Times Picayune | Archived Copy

If a letter from one professional planning group assigned to one neighborhood under the New Orleans Neighborhood Rebuilding Plan is an indication of the general approach, we are about to be steamrolled by someone with an agenda.

Source: Wet Bank Guide | Archived Copy

[Jackie] Clarkson stormed out of a forum at Woodland Presbyterian Church in Algiers after resident Teresa Haab accused Clarkson of not keeping a 3-year-old promise to repair her street and asked: “Why would anyone vote for someone that lies?”

Moderator Frances Sewell said Clarkson took more than six minutes to respond to the question and resisted each time she was told she had reached a three-minute limit on answers. “I’m gonna finish, Frances!” Clarkson said several times before storming out.

Source: The Times-Picayune | Archived Copy

And when the developers revealed that a Wal-Mart Supercenter and Sam’s Club were going to be a part of the project, heated and emotional opposition erupted, led by Covington-area residents who continue to wage an unprecedented battle to stop the development.

Unable to derail the center before the Zoning Commission, the Parish Council and state courts, the residents have turned to the St. Tammany’s home rule charter, which allows citizens’ initiatives to repeal parish ordinances.

It’s the first time a citizens’ initiative has been attempted in Louisiana to reverse a rezoning ordinance, parish officials said. And the Parish Council has filed suit, questioning whether the process can be legally used to repeal zoning ordinances. The case, which could have repercussions in other parishes with similar provisions in their home rule charters, is scheduled to be heard Thursday in state district court in Covington.

Source: The Times-Picayune | Archived Copy

An agreement that will be discussed at this week’s WTO
ministerial meeting in Hong Kong poses a serious threat to state and
local authority over land use policy, according to Public Citizen. Big
box retailers such as Wal-Mart are pushing for new provisions in the
WTO’s General Agreement on Trade in Services that could further
undermine local zoning and other land use and development policies.

Among the local laws threatened by GATS rules are those that impose size and height restrictions on big box stores; limits on hours of operation; economic needs tests before stores can be approved; and limits on development to protect the environment or protect historic and cultural sites. No state or local group has yet recognized the threat posed to land use laws and local sovereignty by the WTO’s one-size-fits-all rules for service firms. One group that has recognized this threat is major
retail firms.

“Major big box retail corporations have been eyeing the GATS as a way of gutting local zoning and land use laws that have kept them out of
communities in Europe and the United States.”

Source: Public Citizen | Archived Copy

The 2005 Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award will be presented to Stephen Bradberry, the Lead Organizer of the New Orleans chapter of ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now), the nation’s largest community organization of low- and moderate-income families working together for social justice and stronger communities. The award ceremony will take place in the Caucus Room of the Russell Senate Office Building in Washington, DC on November 16th at 10:30 a.m.

Source: Robert F. Kennedy Memorial | Archived Copy

“Welcome to the Third World!” More than one person said this to me when I moved to New Orleans in 2001. Living there, I learned to tell direction, not by north or south, but by upriver or downriver. I learned a new vocabulary of pirogues, po’ boys, second-lining and making groceries. I learned what Mardi Gras was really all about. And I learned something about what it meant to live in one of the poorest cities, in one of the poorest metropolitan areas, in one of the poorest regions of the country.

Source: National Housing Institute | Archived Copy

In New Orleans: Ethnic Cleansing, GOP-Style.
In a recent email to Louisiana officials, FEMA curtly turned down the state’s request for funding to notify displaced residents that they could cast absentee ballots in the city’s crucial February mayoral election.

Source: Mother Jones | Archived Copy

A month after the creation of the Bring New Orleans Back Commission by Mayor C. Ray Nagin - before it has even had a chance to take up basic procedural questions - there are already signs the commission is in trouble. It is struggling to focus on major rebuilding issues rather than smaller complaints, and sharp divisions have begun to develop among its members.

Source: The New York Times | Archived Copy

“The cause was a heart attack, said her daughter, Yolanda Gonzalez. She was stricken at the office of Nos Quedamos/We Stay, the community group she helped found in the early 1990’s to prevent the eviction of hundreds of people who lived and worked in the neighborhood.”

“The vow embodied by the group’s name became a rallying cry for Ms. Garcia, after she and her neighbors learned of a city redevelopment plan that would transform 30 blocks from rubble-covered lots into buildings that would house 4,000 families.”

(Thanks, Sara)

Source: The New York Times | Archived Copy

The lawsuit pits development company St. Charles Ventures LLC against Albertsons over a store intended to open this year at the intersection of Felicity and Carondolet streets. Instead, only gravel and litter mark the vacant lot where about a dozen homes were removed to make way for the development.

Source: City Business | Archived Copy

“When there are laws on the books, you shouldn’t have to ask citizens to buy property to save their neighborhood,” he says.

Source: City Business | Archived Copy

The plan has been back in the spotlight this month as Audubon’s chief critic, Internet group SaveAudubonPark.org, sent out a rash of e-mails questioning city money that is going to the golf course renovation. At its March 21 regular meeting, the City Council will decide whether to allow the mayor to enter into a “cooperative endeavor agreement” with Audubon, which would allow Audubon to access $1.98 million in bond money for the golf course project.

Source: City Business | Archived Copy